


Falter

by OldSchoolTrekkie



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Matter of Life and Death, OT3, Present Tense, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-04
Updated: 2015-02-04
Packaged: 2018-03-10 12:24:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3290222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldSchoolTrekkie/pseuds/OldSchoolTrekkie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>McCoy suffers a crisis of faith. McCoy POV.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Falter

Dark eyes meet mine; my heart splinters.

It's over.

The voices that have always chanted my internal mantra – those nudging voices that have always assured me this day would never come; those insistent voices that constantly whisper how the tables will _never_ get turned against him and that unbreakable faith of his, _knowing_ we will _always_ win, no matter the odds; those pressing voices demanding that the _strength of his belief_ means I can do naught but believe it, too – those voices have fallen silent.

Instead, one quiet, crushing voice mocks me. Accuses me. It's _my fault_ for not believing _enough_. My lack of faith in _him_ , in _them_ , in _us_ – has let that impossible scenario become reality.

Those black, unguarded eyes bore into mine, belying the man's apparent calm. In answer to his unspoken plea, the fragment of myself that is ever the consummate professional (despite my despair) nods toward the exam area, and because I don't trust my full voice not to break, I whisper the words with a hope I do not feel.

"Let's take a look."

With exquisite care, the silent figure lays thatimpossibly broken golden body on the biobed. The immediate assessment of the readout panel shows the heartbeat to be implausibly slow, but _there_. Respiration, blood pressure, _everything_ – severely depressed but _there_.

With so much damage, bodies bleed out _fast_. Death should have been almost immediate, and yet…

_And yet…_

Readings show the man is _alive_.

Negligibly...improbably...but, _still…alive_.

Puzzled, I look from my patient to the man who has delivered him. Though he's moved to make room for my ministrations, he hasn't completely broken contact. One hand remains, fingers spread, on the face of his unconscious companion.

Realization hits me.

A mind-meld.

He must have acted instantly, with the instinct that make these two a formidable team. He's drastically slowed the heart rate of his friend to reduce the volume of blood that would have been otherwise pumped out onto the ground. He would have had to then back off on the meld momentarily, to order the direct-to-sickbay beam-up.

I've long known of his people's ability to control their bodily functions with their mind, but as far as I know, it's never been extended to another person.

Leave it to this pair to go where no one has gone before.

My internal mantra resumes, once again aiding me in relegating no-win scenarios to the plane of non-existence.

I look up to meet the ebony eyes belonging to the chief apostle of our common faith.

"We _can_ do this, Doctor," he breathes.

Faith thus restored, I give Spock a determined smile.

Together, we begin the familiar ritual of saving Jim.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own some Star Trek merchandise. Really nice people own the franchise. I am not really nice, so it must not be me. I do not make any profit from this venture, nor much from any other, but that is neither here nor there...


End file.
